<
https://theconversation.com/the-daunting-task-facing-new-malaysian-prime-minister-anwar-ibrahim-uniting-a-divided-country-195890>
"It’s been some journey for Anwar Ibrahim, the new Malaysian prime minister
appointed last month. It took 24 years to go from being the country’s deputy
prime minister in 1998 to becoming the prime minister today, at 75 years old.
Along the way, he was jailed twice, found guilty on charges of sodomy, beaten
up by the police commissioner, charged with corruption and finally, received a
royal pardon.
Many consider Anwar to be one of the only real Muslim democrats fighting to
keep Malaysia multiracial and multicultural. On the surface, this was the
fairytale ending for that fight.
No single coalition won the bare majority required to form government when the
election results were announced on November 19. After five days and direct
intervention by the king and the Malay Rulers, Anwar was picked to be the prime
minister after proving he could cobble together a majority coalition under
Pakatan Harapan (The Alliance of Hope).
It’s likely many Western governments breathed a sigh of relief on seeing Anwar
triumph, as the other leading coalition, Perikatan Nasional (National
Alliance), was running on a conservative, nationalistic Islamic platform. There
wasn’t a single ethnic Chinese or Indian elected under the Perikatan Nasional,
despite the fact non-Malays make up at least one-third of the population.
Anwar’s coalition, on the other hand, had more than 40 elected Chinese and
Indian MPs.
No wonder many are calling the Anwar administration the “New Malaysia”. Yet the
challenges facing Anwar are colossal."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
